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1 most
most [məʊst]1. adjectivea. ( = greatest in amount) the most le plus (de)• who has got the most? qui en a le plus ?► to make the most of [+ one's time] bien employer ; [+ opportunity, sb's absence] profiter (au maximum) de ; [+ one's talents, business offer] tirer le meilleur parti de ; [+ one's resources] utiliser au mieux• make the most of it! profitez-en bien !• to make the most of o.s. se mettre en valeurb. ( = largest part) la plus grande partie (de) ; ( = greatest number) la plupart (de)2. adverbb. ( = very) très* * *Note: When used to form the superlative of adjectives most is translated by le plus or la plus depending on the gender of the noun and by les plus with plural noun: the most beautiful woman in the room = la plus belle femme de la pièce; the most expensive hotel in Paris = l'hôtel le plus cher de Paris; the most difficult problems = les problèmes les plus difficiles. For examples and further uses see the entry below[məʊst] 1.1) (the majority of, nearly all) la plupart de2) (superlative: more than all the others) le plus de2.she got the most votes/money — c'est elle qui a obtenu le plus de voix/d'argent
1) ( the greatest number) la plupart (of de); ( the largest part) la plus grande partie (of de)2) ( the maximum)the most you can expect is... — tout ce que tu peux espérer c'est...
the most I can do is... — tout ce que je peux faire, c'est..., le mieux que je puisse faire, c'est...
3) ( more than all the others) le plus3.1) ( used to form superlative)2) ( very) très, extrêmementmost encouraging — très or extrêmement encourageant
3) ( more than all the rest) le pluswhat most annoyed him ou what annoyed him most (of all) was — ce qui l'ennuyait le plus c'était que
4) (colloq) US ( almost) presque4.at (the) most adverbial phrase au maximum, au plus5.for the most part adverbial phrase ( most of them) pour la plupart; ( most of the time) la plupart du temps; ( basically) essentiellement, surtoutfor the most part, they... — pour la plupart, ils...
for the most part he works in his office — la plupart du temps, il travaille dans son bureau
6.his experience is, for the most part, in publishing — son expérience est surtout or essentiellement dans l'édition
most of all adverbial phrase par-dessus tout••to make the most of — tirer le meilleur parti de [situation, resources, looks, rest, abilities, space]; profiter de [holiday, opportunity, good weather]
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2 most
❢ When used to form the superlative of adjectives most is translated by le plus or la plus depending on the gender of the noun and by les plus with plural noun: the most beautiful woman in the room = la plus belle femme de la pièce ; the most expensive hotel in Paris = l'hôtel le plus cher de Paris ; the most difficult problems = les problèmes les plus difficiles. For examples and further uses see the entry below.A det1 (the majority of, nearly all) la plupart de ; most people/computers la plupart des gens/des ordinateurs ;2 (superlative: more than all the others) le plus de ; she got the most votes/money c'est elle qui a obtenu le plus de voix/d'argent ; we had (the) most success/problems in China c'est en Chine qu'on a eu le plus de succès/de problèmes ; those with (the) most intelligence ceux qui sont les plus intelligents.B pron1 ( the majority) la plupart (of de) ; most of the people/of the computers la plupart des gens/des ordinateurs ; most of you/us la plupart d'entre vous/nous ; most of the bread/wine presque tout le pain/vin ; most of the money la plus grosse part de l'argent ; for most of the day/evening pendant la plus grande partie de la journée/soirée ; most agreed la plupart étaient d'accord ; most were blue la plupart étaient bleus ;2 ( the maximum) the most you can expect is… tout ce que tu peux espérer c'est… ; the most I can do is… tout ce que je peux faire, c'est…, le mieux que je puisse faire, c'est… ; what's the most we'll have to pay? au maximum, combien aurons-nous à payer? ;3 ( more than all the others) le plus ; John has got the most c'est John qui en a le plus.C adv1 ( used to form superlative) the most beautiful château in France le plus beau château de France ; most easily le plus facilement ; the most beautifully written poetry de très beaux poèmes ; most interestingly (of all), he… le plus intéressant c'est qu'il… ;2 ( very) très, extrêmement ; most encouraging/amusing/odd très or extrêmement encourageant/amusant/bizarre ; most probably très vraisemblablement ;3 ( more than all the rest) le plus ; what most annoyed him ou what annoyed him most (of all) was ce qui l'ennuyait le plus c'était que ; those who will benefit/suffer most from… ceux qui profiteront/souffriront le plus de… ;E for the most part adv phr ( most of them) pour la plupart ; ( most of the time) la plupart du temps ; ( basically) essentiellement, surtout ; for the most part, they… pour la plupart, ils… ; for the most part he works in his office la plupart du temps, il travaille dans son bureau ; the book is, for the most part, about sex le livre parle essentiellement or surtout de sexe ; his experience is, for the most part, in publishing son expérience est surtout or essentiellement dans l'édition.to make the most of tirer le meilleur parti de [situation, resources, looks, rest, abilities, space] ; profiter de [holiday, opportunity, good weather]. -
3 of
of [ɒv, əv]a. de━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• how much of this do you want? combien en voulez-vous ?► of + possessive• he's got four sisters, I've met two of them il a quatre sœurs, j'en ai rencontré deuxc. ( = about) de• what do you think of him? que pensez-vous de lui ?• what do you think of it? qu'en pensez-vous ?• what of it? et alors ?• a dress made of wool une robe en or de laine* * *[ɒv, əv]1) ( in most uses) de2) ( made of)a will of iron — fig une volonté de fer
3) ( indicating an agent)that's kind of you — c'est très gentil de votre part or à vous
4) ( indicating a proportion)of the twelve of us... — sur les douze (que nous sommes/étions)...
5) GB ( in expressions of time) -
4 or
or [ɔ:r]• red or black? rouge ou noir ?• do it or else! (inf) fais-le, sinon (tu vas voir) !* * *[ɔː(r)]Note: In most uses or is translated by ou. There are two exceptions to thisWhen used to link alternatives after a negative verb ( I can't come today or tomorrow). For translations see 2 belowWhen used to indicate consequence ( be careful or you'll cut yourself) or explanation ( it can't be serious or she'd have called us) the translation is sinon: fais attention sinon tu vas te couper; ça ne peut pas être grave sinon elle nous aurait appelés. See 5 and below1) ( linking two or more alternatives) oucar or no car, you've got to get to work — voiture ou pas, il faut que tu ailles travailler
3) (indicating approximation, vagueness) ou4) (introducing qualification, correction, explanation) ou5) (indicating consequence: otherwise) sinon, autrementdo as you're told - or else! — (colloq) fais ce qu'on te dit - sinon (gare (colloq) à toi)!
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5 of
1 ( in most uses) de ; the leg of the table le pied de la table ; the difficulty of the work la difficulté du travail ; the king of beasts le roi des animaux ;2 ( made or consisting of) a ring (made) of gold une bague en or ; a plaque (made) of grey marble une plaque en marbre gris ; a will of iron fig une volonté de fer ; a heart of stone fig un cœur de pierre ;3 ( indicating an agent) that's kind of you/him c'est très gentil de votre/sa part, c'est très gentil à vous/à lui ;4 ( indicating a proportion or fraction) some of us stayed for dinner quelques-uns d'entre nous sont restés dîner ; several of them were rotten plusieurs (d'entre eux) étaient pourris ; of the twelve of us only nine could swim sur les douze (que nous étions) neuf seulement savaient nager ;5 GB ( in expressions of time) of an evening le soir ; of a morning le matin ; I like to play golf of an afternoon j'aime jouer au golf l'après-midi ; ⇒ late, old. -
6 or
or❢ In most uses or is translated by ou. There are two exceptions to this:When used to link alternatives after a negative verb ( I can't come today or tomorrow). For translations see 3 below. When used to indicate consequence ( be careful or you'll cut yourself) or explanation ( it can't be serious or she'd have called us) the translation is sinon: fais attention sinon tu vas te couper ; ça ne peut pas être grave sinon elle nous aurait appelés. See 6 and 7 below. conj1 ( linking two or more alternatives) ou ; with or without sugar? avec ou sans sucre? ; would you like to eat here or in town? est-ce que tu veux manger ici ou en ville? ; it can be roasted, grilled or fried on peut le faire rôtir, griller ou frire ; any brothers or sisters? tu as des frères et sœurs? ;2 ( linking two clear alternatives) ou ; will you or won't you be coming? est-ce que tu viens ou pas? ; either… or… soit… soit… ; essays may be either handwritten or typed les dissertations peuvent être soit manuscrites soit dactylographiées ; they'll stay either here or at Dave's ils vont habiter soit ici soit chez Dave, ils vont habiter ici ou chez Dave ; whether he likes it or not que cela lui plaise ou non ; he wants to know whether or not you're free il veut savoir si tu es libre ou pas ; I didn't know whether to laugh or cry je ne savais pas s'il fallait rire ou pleurer ; rain or no rain, we're going out qu'il pleuve ou non nous sortons ; car or no car, you've got to get to work voiture ou pas, il faut que tu ailles travailler ;3 ( linking alternatives in the negative) I can't come today or tomorrow je ne peux venir ni aujourd'hui ni demain ; don't tell Mum or Dad! ne le dis ni à Maman ni à Papa! ; without food or lodgings sans nourriture ni abri ; I couldn't eat or sleep je ne pouvais ni manger ni dormir ; she doesn't drink or smoke elle ne boit pas et ne fume pas non plus ;4 (indicating approximation, vagueness) ou ; once or twice a week une ou deux fois par semaine ; I'll buy him a tie or something je vais lui acheter une cravate ou quelque chose comme ça ; someone or other from Personnel quelqu'un du service du personnel ; in a week or so dans huit jours environ ;5 (introducing qualification, correction, explanation) ou ; I knew her, or at least I thought I did! je la connaissais, ou plutôt je croyais la connaître! ; my daughter, or rather our daughter ma fille, ou plutôt notre fille ; X, or should I say, Mr X X ou bien devrais-je dire M. X ; Rosalind, or Ros to her friends Rosalind ou Ros pour ses amis ;6 (indicating consequence: otherwise) sinon, autrement ; be careful or you'll cut yourself fais attention sinon or autrement tu vas te couper ; do as you're told-or else ○ ! fais ce qu'on te dit-sinon gare ○ à toi or attention! ;7 (in explanation, justification) sinon, autrement ; it can't have been serious or she'd have called us ça ne devait pas être très grave sinon or autrement elle nous aurait appelés. -
7 Countries and continents
Most countries and all continents are used with the definite article in French:France is a beautiful country= la France est un beau paysI like Canada= j’aime le Canadato visit the United States= visiter les États-Unisto know Iran= connaître l’IranA very few countries do not:to visit Israel= visiter IsraëlWhen in doubt, check in the dictionary.All the continent names are feminine in French. Most names of countries are feminine e.g. la France, but some are masculine e.g. le Canada.Most names of countries are singular in French, but some are plural (usually, but not always, those that are plural in English) e.g. les États-Unis mpl (the United States), and les Philippines fpl (the Philippines). Note, however, the plural verb sont:the Philippines is a lovely country= les Philippines sont un beau paysIn, to and from somewhereWith continent names, feminine singular names of countries and masculine singular names of countries beginning with a vowel, for in and to, use en, and for from, use de:to live in Europe= vivre en Europeto go to Europe= aller en Europeto come from Europe= venir d’Europeto live in France= vivre en Franceto go to France= aller en Franceto come from France= venir de Franceto live in Afghanistan= vivre en Afghanistanto go to Afghanistan= aller en Afghanistanto come from Afghanistan= venir d’AfghanistanNote that names of countries and continents that include North, South, East, or West work in the same way:to live in North Korea= vivre en Corée du Nordto go to North Korea= aller en Corée du Nordto come from North Korea= venir de Corée du NordWith masculine countries beginning with a consonant, and with plurals, use au or aux for in and to, and du or des for from:to live in Canada= vivre au Canadato go to Canada= aller au Canadato come from Canada= venir du Canadato live in the United States= vivre aux États-Unisto go to the United States= aller aux États-Unisto come from the United States= venir des États-Unisto live in the Philippines= vivre aux Philippinesto go to the Philippines= aller aux Philippinesto come from the Philippines= venir des PhilippinesAdjective uses: français or de France or de la France?For French, the translation français is usually safe ; here are some typical examples:the French army= l’armée françaisethe French coast= la côte françaiseFrench cooking= la cuisine françaiseFrench currency= la monnaie françaisethe French Customs= la douane françaisethe French government= le gouvernement françaisthe French language= la langue françaiseFrench literature= la littérature françaiseFrench money= l’argent françaisthe French nation= le peuple françaisFrench politics= la politique françaisea French town= une ville françaiseFrench traditions= les traditions françaisesSome nouns, however, occur more commonly with de France (usually, but not always, their English equivalents can have of France as well as French):the Ambassador of France or the French Ambassador= l’ambassadeur de Francethe French Embassy= l’ambassade de Francethe history of France or French history= l’histoire de Francethe King of France or the French king= le roi de Francethe rivers of France= les fleuves et rivières de Francethe French team= l’équipe de Francebut note:the capital of France or the French capital= la capitale de la FranceNote that many geopolitical adjectives like French can also refer to nationality, e.g. a French tourist ⇒ Nationalities, or to the language, e.g. a French word ⇒ Languages. -
8 Illnesses, aches and pains
Where does it hurt?where does it hurt?= où est-ce que ça vous fait mal? or (more formally) où avez-vous mal?his leg hurts= sa jambe lui fait malhe has a pain in his leg= il a mal à la jambeNote that with avoir mal à French uses the definite article (la) with the part of the body, where English has a possessive (his), hence:his head was aching= il avait mal à la têteEnglish has other ways of expressing this idea, but avoir mal à fits them too:he had toothache= il avait mal aux dentshis ears hurt= il avait mal aux oreillesAccidentsshe broke her leg= elle s’est cassé la jambeElle s’est cassé la jambe means literally she broke to herself the leg ; because the se is an indirect object, the past participle cassé does not agree. This is true of all such constructions:she sprained her ankle= elle s’est foulé la chevillethey burned their hands= ils se sont brûlé les mainsChronic conditionsNote that the French often use fragile (weak) to express a chronic condition:he has a weak heart= il a le cœur fragilehe has kidney trouble= il a les reins fragileshe has a bad back= il a le dos fragileBeing illMostly French uses the definite article with the name of an illness:to have flu= avoir la grippeto have measles= avoir la rougeoleto have malaria= avoir la malariaThis applies to most infectious diseases, including childhood illnesses. However, note the exceptions ending in -ite (e.g. une hépatite, une méningite) below.When the illness affects a specific part of the body, French uses the indefinite article:to have cancer= avoir un cancerto have cancer of the liver= avoir un cancer du foieto have pneumonia= avoir une pneumonieto have cirrhosis= avoir une cirrhoseto have a stomach ulcer= avoir un ulcère à l’estomacMost words in -ite ( English -itis) work like this:to have bronchitis= avoir une bronchiteto have hepatitis= avoir une hépatiteWhen the illness is a generalized condition, French tends to use du, de l’, de la or des:to have rheumatism= avoir des rhumatismesto have emphysema= avoir de l’emphysèmeto have asthma= avoir de l’asthmeto have arthritis= avoir de l’arthriteOne exception here is:to have hay fever= avoir le rhume des foinsWhen there is an adjective for such conditions, this is often preferred in French:to have asthma= être asthmatiqueto have epilepsy= être épileptiqueSuch adjectives can be used as nouns to denote the person with the illness, e.g. un/une asthmatique and un/une épileptique etc.French has other specific words for people with certain illnesses:someone with cancer= un cancéreux/une cancéreuseIf in doubt check in the dictionary.English with is translated by qui a or qui ont, and this is always safe:someone with malaria= quelqu’un qui a la malariapeople with Aids= les gens qui ont le SidaFalling illThe above guidelines about the use of the definite and indefinite articles in French hold good for talking about the onset of illnesses.French has no general equivalent of to get. However, where English can use catch, French can use attraper:to catch mumps= attraper les oreillonsto catch malaria= attraper la malariato catch bronchitis= attraper une bronchiteto catch a cold= attraper un rhumeSimilarly where English uses contract, French uses contracter:to contract Aids= contracter le Sidato contract pneumonia= contracter une pneumonieto contract hepatitis= contracter une hépatiteFor attacks of chronic illnesses, French uses faire une crise de:to have a bout of malaria= faire une crise de malariato have an asthma attack= faire une crise d’asthmeto have an epileptic fit= faire une crise d’épilepsieTreatmentto be treated for polio= se faire soigner contre la polioto take something for hay fever= prendre quelque chose contre le rhume des foinshe’s taking something for his cough= il prend quelque chose contre la touxto prescribe something for a cough= prescrire un médicament contre la touxmalaria tablets= des cachets contre la malariato have a cholera vaccination= se faire vacciner contre le cholérato be vaccinated against smallpox= se faire vacciner contre la varioleto be immunized against smallpox= se faire immuniser contre la varioleto have a tetanus injection= se faire vacciner contre le tétanosto give sb a tetanus injection= vacciner qn contre le tétanosto be operated on for cancer= être opéré d’un cancerto operate on sb for appendicitis= opérer qn de l’appendicite -
9 have
have [hæv]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━2. modal verb4. noun━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━a. avoir━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► avoir is the auxiliary used with most verbs to form past tenses. For important exceptions see below.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• haven't you grown! comme tu as grandi !━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► Note the agreement of the past participle with the preceding direct object.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• if I had seen her I would have spoken to her si je l'avais vue, je lui aurais parlé━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► When describing uncompleted states or actions, French generally uses the present and imperfect where English uses the perfect and past perfect.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I have lived or have been living here for 10 years/since January j'habite ici depuis 10 ans/depuis janvier• I had lived or had been living there for 10 years j'habitais là depuis 10 ans► to have just... venir de...b. être━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► être is the auxiliary used with all reflexives, and the following verbs when used intransitively: aller, arriver, descendre, devenir, entrer, monter, mourir, naître, partir, passer, rentrer, rester, retourner, revenir, sortir, tomber, venir.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• you've seen her, haven't you? vous l'avez vue, n'est-ce pas ?• he hasn't told anyone, has he? il n'en a parlé à personne, n'est-ce pas ?d. (in tag responses) he's got a new job -- oh has he? il a un nouveau travail -- ah bon ?• you've dropped your book -- so I have! vous avez laissé tomber votre livre -- en effet !━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► (mais) si or (mais) non are used to contradict.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• you haven't seen her -- yes I have! vous ne l'avez pas vue -- (mais) si !• you've made a mistake -- no I haven't! vous vous êtes trompé -- mais non !━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• have you met him? -- yes I have est-ce que tu l'as rencontré ? -- oui• has he arrived? -- no he hasn't est-ce qu'il est arrivé ? -- none. (avoiding repetition of verb) have you ever been there? if you have... y êtes-vous déjà allé ? si oui,...• have you tried it? if you haven't... est-ce que vous avez goûté ça ? si vous ne l'avez pas fait,...2. modal verb━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► falloir is always used in the third person singular, in an impersonal construction. Note that falloir que is always followed by the subjunctive.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• you're going to have to work hard! tu vas devoir travailler dur ! il va falloir que tu travailles dur !• I'll have to leave now or I'll miss the train il faut que je parte, sinon je vais rater mon train• don't you have to get permission? est-ce qu'on ne doit pas demander la permission ?• do you have to go now? est-ce que vous devez partir tout de suite ?• we've had to work late twice this week nous avons dû rester travailler tard deux fois cette semaine• what kind of equipment would you have to have? quel type de matériel vous faudrait-il ?• it has to be the biggest scandal this year c'est sans aucun doute le plus gros scandale de l'année• do you have to make such a noise? tu ne pourrais pas faire un peu moins de bruit ?► don't/doesn't have to + infinitive━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• you didn't have to tell her! tu n'avais pas besoin de le lui dire !• I don't have to do it je ne suis pas obligé or forcé de le fairea. avoir• I have or I've got three books j'ai trois livres• have you got a suitcase? avez-vous une valise ?• have you got this jumper in black? est-ce que vous avez ce pull en noir ?b. ( = eat, drink, take) he had an egg for breakfast il a mangé un œuf au petit déjeuner• shall we have a coffee? on prend un café ?► will you have...? (in offers)will you have tea or coffee? vous prendrez du thé ou du café ?c. ( = spend) passer• what sort of day have you had? est-ce que tu as passé une bonne journée ?d. ( = smoke) fumere. ( = catch) tenir• I've got him where I want him! (inf) je le tiens !► to let sb have ( = give) donner à qn• I'll let you have it for $100 je vous le cède pour 100 dollars► must have or have to have• I must have £50 at once il me faut 50 livres immédiatement• I must or have to have them by this afternoon il me les faut pour cet après-midi► won't have ( = refuse to accept)I won't have this nonsense! je ne tolérerai pas ces enfantillages !• I won't have it! je ne tolérerai pas ça !• I won't have him risking his neck on that motorbike je ne veux pas qu'il risque sa vie sur cette moto► would have ( = wish)what would you have me do? que voulez-vous que je fasse ?• he had his worst fears confirmed ses pires craintes se sont réalisées► to have sb do sth faire faire qch à qn• she soon had them all reading and writing elle a réussi très rapidement à leur apprendre à lire et à écrire► had better ( = should)4. nouna. faire venira. [+ clothes] porterb. (British = have planned) I've got so much on this week that... j'ai tant de choses à faire cette semaine que...d. Richard has nothing on him! (inf) Richard ne lui arrive pas à la cheville !• the police have nothing on me (inf) la police n'a pas de preuve contre moi► have out separable transitive verb[+ friends, neighbours] inviter* * *[hæv, həv] 1.transitive verb ( uses not covered in NOTE)1) ( possess) avoir2) ( consume) prendre3) ( want) vouloir, prendrewhat will you have? — qu'est-ce que vous prendrez or voulez?
I wouldn't have him/her any other way — c'est comme ça que je l'aime
4) (receive, get) recevoir [letter, information]5) ( hold) faire [party, celebration]; tenir [meeting]; organiser [competition, ballot, exhibition]; avoir [conversation]; mener [enquiry]6) (exert, exhibit) avoir [effect, influence]; avoir [courage, courtesy] ( to do de faire)7) ( spend) passerto have a nice day/evening — passer une journée/soirée agréable
to have a hard ou bad time — traverser une période difficile
8) ( be provided with) (also have got)I have ou I've got letters to write — j'ai du courrier à faire
9) (undergo, suffer) avoirto have (the) flu/a heart attack — avoir la grippe/une crise cardiaque
to have an interview — avoir or passer un entretien
10) ( cause to be done)they would have us believe that... — ils voudraient nous faire croire que...
I would have you know that... — je voudrais que vous sachiez que...
11) ( cause to become)we'll soon have everything ready/clean — nous aurons bientôt fini de tout préparer/nettoyer
if you're not careful you'll have that glass over — si tu ne fais pas attention tu vas renverser le verre
12) ( allow) tolérer13) ( physically hold) tenirshe had him by the throat/by the arm — elle le tenait à la gorge/par le bras
14) ( give birth to) [woman] avoir [child]; [animal] mettre bas, avoir [young]15) ( as impersonal verb)over here, we have a painting by Picasso — ici vous avez un tableau de Picasso
what we have here is a small group of extremists — ce à quoi nous avons affaire ici, est un petit groupe d'extrémistes
16) ( puzzle)you have ou you've got me there! — là tu me poses une colle! (colloq)
17) ( have at one's mercy) (also have got)2.I've got you/him now! — maintenant je te/le tiens!
modal auxiliary1) ( must)I have (got) to leave now — je dois partir maintenant, il faut que je parte maintenant
2) ( need to)you don't have to ou you haven't got to leave so early — tu n'as pas besoin de or tu n'es pas obligé de partir si tôt
3) ( for emphasis)3.this has (got) to be the most difficult decision I've ever made — c'est sans doute la décision la plus difficile que j'aie jamais eu à prendre
1) gen avoir; ( with movement and reflexive verbs) être2) ( in tag questions etc)you've seen the film, haven't you? — tu as vu le film, n'est-ce pas?
you haven't seen the film, have you? — tu n'as pas vu le film?
you haven't seen my bag, have you? — tu n'as pas vu mon sac, par hasard?
‘he's already left’ - ‘has he indeed!’ — ‘il est déjà parti’ - ‘vraiment!’
4.‘you've never met him’ - ‘yes I have!’ — ‘tu ne l'as jamais rencontré’ - ‘mais si!’
having auxiliary verb1) ( in time clauses)having finished his breakfast, he went out — après avoir fini son petit déjeuner, il est sorti
2) (because, since)•Phrasal Verbs:- have in- have on- have up••this car/TV has had it — (colloq) cette voiture/télé est foutue (colloq)
when your father finds out, you've had it! — (colloq) ( in trouble) quand ton père l'apprendra, ça va être ta fête! (colloq)
I can't do any more, I've had it! — (colloq) ( tired) je n'en peux plus, je suis crevé! (colloq)
I've had it (up to here) with... — (colloq) j'en ai marre de... (colloq)
to have it in for somebody — (colloq) avoir quelqu'un dans le collimateur (colloq)
she has/doesn't have it in her to do — elle est capable/incapable de faire
and the ayes/noes have it — les oui/non l'emportent
...and what have you —...etc
there is no milk/there are no houses to be had — on ne trouve pas de lait/de maisons
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10 Usage note : be
I am tired= je suis fatiguéCaroline is French= Caroline est françaisethe children are in the garden= les enfants sont dans le jardinIt functions in very much the same way as to be does in English and it is safe to assume it will work as a translation in the great majority of cases.Note, however, that when you are specifying a person’s profession or trade, a/an is not translated:she’s a doctor= elle est médecinClaudie is still a student= Claudie est toujours étudianteThis is true of any noun used in apposition when the subject is a person:he’s a widower= il est veufButLyons is a beautiful city= Lyon est une belle villeFor more information or expressions involving professions and trades consult the usage note Shops, Trades and Professions.For the conjugation of the verb être see the French verb tables.Grammatical functionsThe passiveêtre is used to form the passive in French just as to be is used in English. Note, however, that the past participle agrees in gender and number with the subject:the rabbit was killed by a fox= le lapin a été tué par un renardthe window had been broken= la fenêtre avait été casséetheir books will be sold= leurs livres seront vendusour doors have been repainted red= nos portes ont été repeintes en rougeIn spoken language, French native speakers find the passive cumbersome and will avoid it where possible by using the impersonal on where a person or people are clearly involved : on a repeint nos portes en rouge.Progressive tensesIn French the idea of something happening over a period of time cannot be expressed using the verb être in the way that to be is used as an auxiliary verb in English.The presentFrench uses simply the present tense where English uses the progressive form with to be:I am working= je travailleBen is reading a book= Ben lit un livreIn order to accentuate duration être en train de is used: je suis en train de travailler ; Ben est en train de lire un livre.The futureFrench also uses the present tense where English uses the progressive form with to be:we are going to London tomorrow= nous allons à Londres demainI’m (just) coming!= j’arrive!I’m (just) going!= j’y vais!The pastTo express the distinction between she read a newspaper and she was reading a newspaper French uses the perfect and the imperfect tenses: elle a lu un journal/elle lisait un journal:he wrote to his mother= il a écrit à sa mèrehe was writing to his mother= il écrivait à sa mèreHowever, in order to accentuate the notion of describing an activity which went on over a period of time, the phrase être en train de (= to be in the process of) is often used:‘what was he doing when you arrived?’‘he was cooking the dinner’= ‘qu’est-ce qu’il faisait quand tu es arrivé?’ ‘il était en train de préparer le dîner’she was just finishing her essay when …= elle était juste en train de finir sa dissertation quand …The compound pastCompound past tenses in the progressive form in English are generally translated by the imperfect in French:I’ve been looking for you= je te cherchaisFor progressive forms + for and since (I’ve been waiting for an hour, I had been waiting for an hour, I’ve been waiting since Monday etc.) see the entries for and since.ObligationWhen to be is used as an auxiliary verb with another verb in the infinitive ( to be to do) expressing obligation, a fixed arrangement or destiny, devoir is used:she’s to do it at once= elle doit le faire tout de suitewhat am I to do?= qu’est-ce que je dois faire?he was to arrive last Monday= il devait arriver lundi derniershe was never to see him again= elle ne devait plus le revoir.In tag questionsFrench has no direct equivalent of tag questions like isn’t he? or wasn’t it? There is a general tag question n’est-ce pas? (literally isn’t it so?) which will work in many cases:their house is lovely, isn’t it?= leur maison est très belle, n’est-ce pas?he’s a doctor, isn’t he?= il est médecin, n’est-ce pas?it was a very good meal, wasn’t it?= c’était un très bon repas, n’est-ce pas?However, n’est-ce pas can very rarely be used for positive tag questions and some other way will be found to express the extra meaning contained in the tag: par hasard ( by any chance) can be very useful as a translation:‘I can’t find my glasses’ ‘they’re not in the kitchen, are they?’= ‘je ne trouve pas mes lunettes’ ‘elles ne sont pas dans la cuisine, par hasard?’you haven’t seen Gaby, have you?= tu n’as pas vu Gaby, par hasard?In cases where an opinion is being sought, si? meaning more or less or is it? or was it? etc. can be useful:it’s not broken, is it?= ce n’est pas cassé, si?he wasn’t serious, was he?= il n’était pas sérieux, si?In many other cases the tag question is simply not translated at all and the speaker’s intonation will convey the implied question.In short answersAgain, there is no direct equivalent for short answers like yes I am, no he’s not etc. Where the answer yes is given to contradict a negative question or statement, the most useful translation is si:‘you’re not going out tonight’ ‘yes I am’= ‘tu ne sors pas ce soir’ ‘si’In reply to a standard enquiry the tag will not be translated:‘are you a doctor?’ ‘yes I am’= ‘êtes-vous médecin?’ ‘oui’‘was it raining?’ ‘yes it was’= ‘est-ce qu’il pleuvait?’ ‘oui’ProbabilityFor expressions of probability and supposition ( if I were you etc.) see the entry be.Other functionsExpressing sensations and feelingsIn expressing physical and mental sensations, the verb used in French is avoir:to be cold= avoir froidto be hot= avoir chaudI’m cold= j’ai froidto be thirsty= avoir soifto be hungry= avoir faimto be ashamed= avoir hontemy hands are cold= j’ai froid aux mainsIf, however, you are in doubt as to which verb to use in such expressions, you should consult the entry for the appropriate adjective.Discussing health and how people areIn expressions of health and polite enquiries about how people are, aller is used:how are you?= comment allez-vous?( more informally) comment vas-tu?( very informally as a greeting) ça va?are you well?= vous allez bien?how is your daughter?= comment va votre fille?my father is better today= mon père va mieux aujourd’huiDiscussing weather and temperatureIn expressions of weather and temperature faire is generally used:it’s cold= il fait froidit’s windy= il fait du ventIf in doubt, consult the appropriate adjective entry.Visiting somewhereWhen to be is used in the present perfect tense to mean go, visit etc., French will generally use the verbs venir, aller etc. rather than être:I’ve never been to Sweden= je ne suis jamais allé en Suèdehave you been to the Louvre?= est-ce que tu es déjà allé au Louvre?or est-ce que tu as déjà visité le Louvre?Paul has been to see us three times= Paul est venu nous voir trois foisNote too:has the postman been?= est-ce que le facteur est passé?The translation for an expression or idiom containing the verb to be will be found in the dictionary at the entry for another word in the expression: for to be in danger see danger, for it would be best to … see best etc.This dictionary contains usage notes on topics such as the clock, time units, age, weight measurement, days of the week, and shops, trades and professions, many of which include translations of particular uses of to be. -
11 below
below [bɪˈləʊ]1. prepositiona. ( = under) sous ; ( = lower than) au-dessous de2. adverb• below, we could see the valley en bas, on apercevait la vallée• several thousand feet below (from mountain top) plusieurs milliers de mètres plus bas ; (from aeroplane) plusieurs milliers de mètres au-dessousb. ( = downstairs) en basd. ( = below zero) au-dessous• it will be extremely cold, with temperatures at zero or below il fera très froid, avec des températures tombant à zéro ou au-dessous* * *Note: When below is used as a preposition to talk about the physical position of something, it is most often translated by au-dessous de: the apartment below mine = l'appartement au-dessous du mien; below the knee = au-dessous du genouThe most notable exceptions are for the expressions below the ground and below the surface, when sous is used: sous le sol, sous la surfaceFor other prepositional uses of below and for adverbial uses see the entry below[bɪ'ləʊ] 1.1) ( under) en dessous dethe valley below them/you etc — la vallée en contrebas
2) ( less than) en dessous de, inférieur àbelow 10% — en dessous de or inférieur à 10%
3) ( in rank)those below the rank of Major — Military les militaires qui sont au-dessous du grade de major
4) ( south of) au sud de, au-dessous de; ( downstream from) en aval de5) ( unworthy of) beneath 1. 22.the people/cars (down) below — les gens/voitures en bas
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12 below
❢ When below is used as a preposition to talk about the physical position of something, it is most often translated by au-dessous de: the apartment below mine = l'appartement au-dessous du mien ; below the knee = au-dessous du genou.The most notable exceptions are for the expressions below the ground and below the surface, when sous is used: sous le sol, sous la surface. For other prepositional uses of below and for adverbial uses see the entry below.A prep1 ( under) en dessous de ; the apartment below mine l'appartement au-dessous du mien ; below the knee/the waist au-dessous du genou/de la taille ; below the surface sous la surface ; below (the) ground sous le sol ; one kilometre below the surface à un kilomètre de profondeur ; below sea level au-dessous du niveau de la mer ; his name was below mine on the list son nom était au-dessous du or sous le mien sur la liste ; in the field below the castle dans le champ en contrebas du château ; the valley/river below them/you etc la vallée/rivière en contrebas ;2 (less than: in quantity, degree etc) en dessous de, inférieur à ; below the average/10% en dessous de or inférieur à la moyenne/10% ; below the age of 12 en dessous de 12 ans ; 10° below (freezing) 10° en dessous de zéro ; below target/expectations/inflation inférieur aux objectifs/aux prévisions/à l'inflation ; his performance was below his usual standard sa prestation était bien moins bonne que d'habitude ; your behaviour was (well) below the standard expected of a manager ta conduite n'était pas (du tout) à la hauteur du poste de directeur ;3 ( inferior in rank to) the people below him in the department les gens du service au-dessous de lui ; those below the rank of Major Mil les militaires qui sont au-dessous du grade de major ; a lieutenant is below a captain lieutenant est un grade inférieur à capitaine ; those employees below management level les employés qui ne font pas partie de la direction ; the teams below them in the table ( Sport etc) les équipes moins bien classées qu'eux ;4 ( south of) au sud de, au-dessous de ; below Liverpool/London au sud de Liverpool/de Londres ;5 ( downstream from) en aval de ;6 ( unworthy of) ⇒ beneath A 2.B adv1 ( lower down) 100 metres below 100 mètres plus bas ; the village/the river below le village/la rivière en contrebas ; the people/cars (down) below les gens/voitures en bas ; the apartment below l'appartement en dessous ; seen from below vu d'en bas ; the miners working below les mineurs qui travaillent sous terre ;2 (later on page, in book etc) ci-dessous ; see below voir ci-dessous ; the information below les données ci-dessous ; -
13 The months of the year
Don’t use capitals for the names of the months in French, and note that there are no common abbreviations in French as there are in English (Jan, Feb and so on). The French only abbreviate in printed calendars etc.January = janvierFebruary = févrierMarch = marsApril = avrilMay = maiJune = juinJuly = juilletAugust = aoûtSeptember = septembreOctober = octobreNovember = novembreDecember = décembreWhich month?(May in this note stands for any month ; they all work the same way ; for more information on dates in French ⇒ Date.)what month is it?= quel mois sommes-nous? or (very informally) on est quel mois?it was May= nous étions en maiwhat month was he born?= de quel mois est-il?When?in May= en mai or au mois de maithey’re getting married this May= ils se marient en maithat May= cette année-là en mainext May= en mai prochainin May next year= l’an prochain en mailast May= l’année dernière en maithe May after next= dans deux ans en maithe May before last= il y deux ans en maiWhich part of the month?at the beginning of May= au début de maiin early May= début maiat the end of May= à la fin de maiin late May= fin maiin mid-May= à la mi-maifor the whole of May= pendant tout le mois de maithroughout May= tout au long du mois de maiRegular eventsevery May= tous les ans en maievery other May= tous les deux ans en maimost Mays= presque tous les ans en maiUses with other nounsone May morning= par un matin de maione May night= par une nuit de mai or (if evening) par un soir de maiFor other uses, it is always safe to use du mois de:May classes= les cours du mois de maiMay flights= les vols du mois de maithe May sales= les soldes du mois de maiUses with adjectivesthe warmest May= le mois de mai le plus chauda rainy May= un mois de mai pluvieuxa lovely May= un beau mois de mai -
14 BE
be [bi:]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. link verb3. modal verb6. compounds━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. link verba. être• who is that? -- it's me! qui est-ce ? -- c'est moi !• if I were you I would refuse si j'étais vous, je refuserais━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The following translations use ce + être because they contain an article or possessive in French.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► No article is used in French, unless the noun is qualified by an adjective.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• how are you? comment allez-vous ?d. ( = cost) coûter• how much is it? combien ça coûte ?e. ( = equal) fairef.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• to be cold/hot/hungry/thirsty/ashamed/right/wrong avoir froid/chaud/faim/soif/honte/raison/tort━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► Note how French makes the person, not the part of the body, the subject of the sentence in the following.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━g. (with age) avoir• how old is he? quel âge a-t-il ?► to be + -ing━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► French does not distinguish between simple and continuous actions as much as English does.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I'm coming! j'arrive !• what have you been doing this week? qu'est-ce que tu as fait cette semaine ?• will you be seeing her tomorrow? est-ce que vous allez la voir demain ?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► être en train de + infinitive emphasizes that one is in the middle of the action.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I haven't got time, I'm cooking the dinner je n'ai pas le temps, je suis en train de préparer le repas━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The imperfect tense is used for continuous action in the past.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► have/had been +... for/since━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► French uses the present and imperfect where English uses the perfect and past perfect.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I'd been at university for six weeks when my father got ill j'étais à l'université depuis six semaines quand mon père est tombé malade• he's a friend of yours, isn't he? c'est un ami à toi, n'est-ce pas ?• she wasn't happy, was she? elle n'était pas heureuse, n'est-ce pas ?• so it's all done, is it? tout est fait, alors ?• you're not ill, are you? tu n'es pas malade j'espère ?c. (in tag responses) they're getting married -- oh are they? ils vont se marier -- ah bon ?• he's going to complain about you -- oh is he? il va porter plainte contre toi -- ah vraiment ?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• he's always late, isn't he? -- yes, he is il est toujours en retard, n'est-ce pas ? -- oui• is it what you expected? -- no it isn't est-ce que tu t'attendais à ça ? -- non━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The past participle in French passive constructions agrees with the subject.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The passive is used less in French than in English. It is often expressed by on + active verb.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• it is said that... on dit que...━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The reflexive can be used to describe how something is usually done.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━3. modal verb► am/are/is to + infinitivea. ( = will)• now the old lady has died, her house is to be sold maintenant que la vieille dame est décédée, sa maison va être mise en venteb. ( = must) you are to follow these instructions exactly tu dois suivre ces instructions scrupuleusementc. ( = should) he is to be pitied il est à plaindre• not to be confused with... à ne pas confondre avec...d. ( = be destined to) this was to have serious repercussions cela devait avoir de graves répercussionse. ( = can) these birds are to be found all over the world on trouve ces oiseaux dans le monde entiera. être ; ( = take place) avoir lieu• he is there at the moment, but he won't be there much longer il est là en ce moment mais il ne va pas rester très longtemps► there is/are ( = there exist(s)) il y a• here you are at last! te voilà enfin !• here you are! ( = take this) tiens (or tenez) !b. ► to have been (to a place)• where have you been? où étais-tu passé ?a. (weather, temperature) faire• it's fine/cold/dark il fait beau/froid/nuit• it's windy/foggy il y a du vent/du brouillard• it was then we realized that... c'est alors que nous nous sommes rendu compte que...• it was they who suggested that... ce sont eux qui ont suggéré que...• why is it that she is so popular? pourquoi a-t-elle tant de succès ?6. compounds* * *noun: abrév bill of exchange -
15 be
be [bi:]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. link verb3. modal verb6. compounds━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━1. link verba. être• who is that? -- it's me! qui est-ce ? -- c'est moi !• if I were you I would refuse si j'étais vous, je refuserais━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The following translations use ce + être because they contain an article or possessive in French.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► No article is used in French, unless the noun is qualified by an adjective.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• how are you? comment allez-vous ?d. ( = cost) coûter• how much is it? combien ça coûte ?e. ( = equal) fairef.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• to be cold/hot/hungry/thirsty/ashamed/right/wrong avoir froid/chaud/faim/soif/honte/raison/tort━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► Note how French makes the person, not the part of the body, the subject of the sentence in the following.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━g. (with age) avoir• how old is he? quel âge a-t-il ?► to be + -ing━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► French does not distinguish between simple and continuous actions as much as English does.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I'm coming! j'arrive !• what have you been doing this week? qu'est-ce que tu as fait cette semaine ?• will you be seeing her tomorrow? est-ce que vous allez la voir demain ?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► être en train de + infinitive emphasizes that one is in the middle of the action.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I haven't got time, I'm cooking the dinner je n'ai pas le temps, je suis en train de préparer le repas━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The imperfect tense is used for continuous action in the past.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► have/had been +... for/since━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► French uses the present and imperfect where English uses the perfect and past perfect.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• I'd been at university for six weeks when my father got ill j'étais à l'université depuis six semaines quand mon père est tombé malade• he's a friend of yours, isn't he? c'est un ami à toi, n'est-ce pas ?• she wasn't happy, was she? elle n'était pas heureuse, n'est-ce pas ?• so it's all done, is it? tout est fait, alors ?• you're not ill, are you? tu n'es pas malade j'espère ?c. (in tag responses) they're getting married -- oh are they? ils vont se marier -- ah bon ?• he's going to complain about you -- oh is he? il va porter plainte contre toi -- ah vraiment ?━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• he's always late, isn't he? -- yes, he is il est toujours en retard, n'est-ce pas ? -- oui• is it what you expected? -- no it isn't est-ce que tu t'attendais à ça ? -- non━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The past participle in French passive constructions agrees with the subject.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The passive is used less in French than in English. It is often expressed by on + active verb.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• it is said that... on dit que...━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━► The reflexive can be used to describe how something is usually done.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━3. modal verb► am/are/is to + infinitivea. ( = will)• now the old lady has died, her house is to be sold maintenant que la vieille dame est décédée, sa maison va être mise en venteb. ( = must) you are to follow these instructions exactly tu dois suivre ces instructions scrupuleusementc. ( = should) he is to be pitied il est à plaindre• not to be confused with... à ne pas confondre avec...d. ( = be destined to) this was to have serious repercussions cela devait avoir de graves répercussionse. ( = can) these birds are to be found all over the world on trouve ces oiseaux dans le monde entiera. être ; ( = take place) avoir lieu• he is there at the moment, but he won't be there much longer il est là en ce moment mais il ne va pas rester très longtemps► there is/are ( = there exist(s)) il y a• here you are at last! te voilà enfin !• here you are! ( = take this) tiens (or tenez) !b. ► to have been (to a place)• where have you been? où étais-tu passé ?a. (weather, temperature) faire• it's fine/cold/dark il fait beau/froid/nuit• it's windy/foggy il y a du vent/du brouillard• it was then we realized that... c'est alors que nous nous sommes rendu compte que...• it was they who suggested that... ce sont eux qui ont suggéré que...• why is it that she is so popular? pourquoi a-t-elle tant de succès ?6. compounds* * *[biː, bɪ]1) gen êtreit's me —
2) ( in probability)were it not that... — si ce n'était que...
had it not been for Frank, I'd have missed the train — sans Frank j'aurais raté le train
3) ( phrases)let ou leave him be — laisse-le tranquille
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16 Usage note : of
In almost all its uses the preposition of is translated by de. Exceptions to this are substances ( made of gold), uses with a personal pronoun (that’s kind of you), proportions (some of us, of the 12 of us…) and time expressions ( of an evening). For translations of these, see the entry of. Remember that de + le always becomes du and that de + les always becomes des.To find translations for phrases beginning with of (of course, of all, of interest, of late, of old) you should consult the appropriate noun etc. entry (course, all, interest, late, old etc.).of also often appears as the second element of a verb (consist of, deprive of, die of, think of). For translations, consult the appropriate verb entry.of is used after certain nouns, pronouns and adjectives in English (a member of, a game of, some of, most of, afraid of, capable of, ashamed of). For translations, consult the appropriate noun, pronoun or adjective entry.there’s a lot of it= il y en a beaucoupthere are several of them= il y en a plusieursNote, however, the following expressions used when referring to people:there are six of them= ils sont sixthere were several of them= ils étaient plusieursFor particular usages see the entry of.This dictionary contains usage notes on such topics as Age, Capacity measurement, Dates, Illnesses, Length measurement, Quantities, Towns and cities, and Weight measurement, many of which use of. -
17 Colours
Not all English colour terms have a single exact equivalent in French: for instance, in some circumstances brown is marron, in others brun. If in doubt, look the word up in the dictionary.Colour termswhat colour is it?= c’est de quelle couleur? or (more formally) de quelle couleur est-il?it’s green= il est vert or elle est verteto paint sth green= peindre qch en vertto dye sth green= teindre qch en vertto wear green= porter du vertdressed in green= habillé de vertColour nouns are all masculine in French:I like green= j’aime le vertI prefer blue= je préfère le bleured suits her= le rouge lui va bienit’s a pretty yellow!= c’est un joli jaune!have you got it in white?= est-ce que vous l’avez en blanc?a pretty shade of blue= un joli ton de bleuit was a dreadful green= c’était un vert affreuxa range of greens= une gamme de vertsMost adjectives of colour agree with the noun they modify:a blue coat= un manteau bleua blue dress= une robe bleueblue clothes= des vêtements bleusSome that don’t agree are explained below.Words that are not true adjectivesSome words that translate English adjectives are really nouns in French, and so don’t show agreement:a brown shoe= une chaussure marronorange tablecloths= des nappes fpl orangehazel eyes= des yeux mpl noisetteOther French words like this include: cerise ( cherry-red), chocolat ( chocolate-brown) and émeraude ( emerald-green).Shades of colourExpressions like pale blue, dark green or light yellow are also invariable in French and show no agreement:a pale blue shirt= une chemise bleu pâledark green blankets= des couvertures fpl vert foncéa light yellow tie= une cravate jaune clairbright yellow socks= des chaussettes fpl jaune vifFrench can also use the colour nouns here: instead of une chemise bleu pâle you could say une chemise d’un bleu pâle ; and similarly des couvertures d’un vert foncé (etc). The nouns in French are normally used to translate English adjectives of this type ending in -er and -est:a darker blue= un bleu plus foncéthe dress was a darker blue= la robe était d’un bleu plus foncéSimilarly:a lighter blue= un bleu plus clair (etc.)In the following examples, blue stands for most basic colour terms:pale blue= bleu pâlelight blue= bleu clairbright blue= bleu vifdark blue= bleu foncédeep blue= bleu profondstrong blue= bleu soutenuOther types of compound in French are also invariable, and do not agree with their nouns:a navy-blue jacket= une veste bleu marineThese compounds include: bleu ciel ( sky-blue), vert pomme ( apple-green), bleu nuit ( midnight-blue), rouge sang ( blood-red) etc. However, all English compounds do not translate directly into French. If in doubt, check in the dictionary.French compounds consisting of two colour terms linked with a hyphen are also invariable:a blue-black material= une étoffe bleu-noira greenish-blue cup= une tasse bleu-verta greeny-yellow dress= une robe vert-jauneEnglish uses the ending -ish, or sometimes -y, to show that something is approximately a certain colour, e.g. a reddish hat or a greenish paint. The French equivalent is -âtre:blue-ish= bleuâtregreenish or greeny= verdâtregreyish= grisâtrereddish= rougeâtreyellowish or yellowy= jaunâtreetc.Other similar French words are rosâtre, noirâtre and blanchâtre. Note however that these words are often rather negative in French. It is better not to use them if you want to be complimentary about something. Use instead tirant sur le rouge/jaune etc.To describe a special colour, English can add -coloured to a noun such as raspberry (framboise) or flesh (chair). Note how this is said in French, where the two-word compound with couleur is invariable, and, unlike English, never has a hyphen:a chocolate-coloured skirt= une jupe couleur chocolatraspberry-coloured fabric= du tissu couleur framboiseflesh-coloured tights= un collant couleur chairColour verbsEnglish makes some colour verbs by adding -en (e.g. blacken). Similarly French has some verbs in -ir made from colour terms:to blacken= noircirto redden= rougirto whiten= blanchirThe other French colour terms that behave like this are: bleu (bleuir), jaune (jaunir), rose (rosir) and vert (verdir). It is always safe, however, to use devenir, thus:to turn purple= devenir violetDescribing peopleNote the use of the definite article in the following:to have black hair= avoir les cheveux noirsto have blue eyes= avoir les yeux bleusNote the use of à in the following:a girl with blue eyes= une jeune fille aux yeux bleusthe man with black hair= l’homme aux cheveux noirsNot all colours have direct equivalents in French. The following words are used for describing the colour of someone’s hair (note that les cheveux is plural in French):fair= blonddark= brunblonde or blond= blondbrown= châtain invred= rouxblack= noirgrey= griswhite= blancCheck other terms such as yellow, ginger, auburn, mousey etc. in the dictionary.Note these nouns in French:a fair-haired man= un blonda fair-haired woman= une blondea dark-haired man= un bruna dark-haired woman= une bruneThe following words are useful for describing the colour of someone’s eyes:blue= bleulight blue= bleu clair invlight brown= marron clair invbrown= marron invhazel= noisette invgreen= vertgrey= grisgreyish-green= gris-vert invdark= noir -
18 Usage note : will
When will is used to express the future in French, the future tense of the French verb is generally used:he’ll come= il viendraIn spoken and more informal French or when the very near future is implied, the present tense of aller + infinitive can be used:I’ll do it now= je vais le faire tout de suiteIf the subject of the modal auxiliary will is I or we, shall is sometimes used instead of will to talk about the future. For further information, consult the entry shall in the dictionary.Tag questionsFrench has no direct equivalent of tag questions like won’t he? or will they? There is a general tag question n’est-ce pas? which will work in many cases:you’ll do it tomorrow, won’t you?= tu le feras demain, n’est-ce pas?In cases where an opinion is being sought, non? meaning is that not so? can be useful:that will be easier, won’t it?= ce sera plus facile, non?In many other cases the tag question is simply not translated at all and the speaker’s intonation will convey the implied question.Short answersAgain, there is no direct equivalent for short answers like no she won’t, yes they will etc. Where the answer yes is given to contradict a negative question or statement, the most useful translation is si:‘they won’t forget’ ‘yes they will’= ‘ils n’oublieront pas’ ‘si’ or (for more emphasis) bien sûr que siWhere the answer no is given to contradict a positive question or statement, the most useful translation is bien sûr que non:‘she’ll post the letter, won’t she?’ ‘no she won’t’= ‘elle va poster la lettre?’ ‘bien sûr que non’In reply to a standard enquiry the tag will not be translated:‘you’ll be ready at midday then?’ ‘yes I will’= ‘tu seras prêt à midi?’ ‘oui’For more examples and other uses, see the entry will. -
19 have
1 ( possess) avoir ; she has a dog elle a un chien ;2 ( consume) prendre ; to have a sandwich manger un sandwich ; to have a whisky boire un whisky ; to have a cigarette fumer une cigarette ; to have breakfast prendre le petit déjeuner ; to have dinner dîner ; to have lunch déjeuner ; he had a sandwich for lunch il a mangé un sandwich au déjeuner ; I had some more cake j'ai repris du gâteau ;3 ( want) vouloir, prendre ; I'll have tea please je voudrais du thé s'il vous plaît ; what will you have? qu'est-ce que vous prendrez or voulez? ; she won't have him back elle ne veut plus de lui ; I offered her £5, but she wouldn't have it je lui ai offert cinq livres sterling, mais elle les a refusées ; I wouldn't have it any other way ça me convient comme ça ; I wouldn't have him/her any other way c'est comme ça que je l'aime ;4 (receive, get) recevoir [letter, parcel, information] ; I've had no news from him je n'ai pas eu de nouvelles de lui ; I must have the information/some money soon il me faut l'information/de l'argent bientôt ; I must have the document by 4 o'clock il faut que j'aie le document avant 4 heures ; to let sb have sth donner qch à qn ;5 ( hold) faire [party, celebration] ; tenir [meeting] ; organiser [competition, ballot, exhibition] ; avoir [conversation] ; célébrer [church service] ; mener [enquiry] ; passer [interview] ;6 (exert, exhibit) avoir [effect, influence] ; avoir [courage, nerve, impudence, courtesy] (to do de faire) ;7 ( spend) passer ; to have a nice day/evening passer une journée/soirée agréable ; to have a good time bien s'amuser ; to have a hard ou bad time avoir des moments difficiles ; to have a good vacation/a day at the beach passer de bonnes vacances/une journée à la plage ;8 ( be provided with) ( also have got) to have sth to do avoir qch à faire ; I have ou I've got some clothes to wash j'ai des vêtements à laver ; I have ou I've got letters to write j'au du courrier à faire ; I have ou I've got a lot of work to do j'ai beaucoup de travail ;9 (undergo, suffer) avoir ; to have (the) flu/measles avoir la grippe/la rougeole ; to have (a) toothache/a headache avoir mal aux dents/mal à la tête ; to have an accident/a heart attack avoir un accident/une crise cardiaque ; to have a shock subir un choc ; he had his car/watch stolen il s'est fait voler sa voiture/montre, on lui a volé sa voiture/montre ; she has had her windows broken on lui a cassé ses fenêtres ; they like having stories read to them ils aiment qu'on leur lise des histoires ; I have ou I've got a student coming in five minutes j'ai un élève qui arrive dans cinq minutes ;10 ( cause to be done) to have sth done faire faire qch ; to have the house painted/the washing-machine installed faire peindre la maison/installer la machine à laver ; to have one's hair cut se faire couper les cheveux ; to have an injection/a dental check-up/a manicure se faire faire une piqûre/un contrôle des dents/une manucure ; to have sb do sth faire faire qch à qn ; she had him close the door/wait in the corridor elle lui a fait fermer la porte/attendre dans le couloir ; they would have us believe that ils voudraient nous faire croire que ; I would have you know/say that je voudrais que vous sachiez/disiez que ; to have sb doing faire faire qn ; he had them laughing/crying il les a fait rire/pleurer ; she had them digging the garden/writing poetry elle leur a fait bêcher le jardin/écrire des poèmes ;11 ( cause to become) he had his revolver/camera ready il avait son revolver/appareil photo prêt ; we'll soon have everything ready/clean nous aurons bientôt fini de tout préparer/nettoyer ; she had the car in pieces in the garage elle avait démonté la voiture dans le garage ; if you're not careful you'll have that table/that glass over si tu ne fais pas attention tu vas renverser la table/le verre ; she had them completely baffled elle les a complètement déroutés ; I had it finished by 5 o'clock je l'avais fini avant 5 heures ;12 ( allow) ( gén au négatif) tolérer ; I won't have this kind of behaviour! je ne tolérerai pas ce comportement! ; I won't have it! ça ne va pas se passer comme ça! ; I won't have this any more! je n'en supporterai pas davantage! ; I won't have them exploit him je ne tolérerai pas qu'ils l'exploitent ; I won't have him hurt je ne laisserai personne le blesser ; we can't have them staying in a hotel on ne peut pas les laisser aller à l'hôtel ;13 ( physically hold) tenir ; she had the glass in her hand elle tenait le verre dans la main ; she had him by the throat/by the arm elle le tenait à la gorge/par le bras ; he had his hands over his eyes il avait les mains sur les yeux ; to have one's back to sb tourner le dos à qn ;14 ( give birth to) [woman] avoir [child] ; [animal] mettre bas, avoir [young] ; has she had it yet? est-ce qu'elle a accouché? ; she's having a baby (in May) elle va avoir un enfant (en mai) ;15 ( as impersonal verb) over here, we have a painting by Picasso ici vous avez un tableau de Picasso ; what we have here is a small group of extremists ce à quoi nous avons affaire ici, est un petit groupe d'extrémistes ; on the one hand you have the victims of crime and on the other… d'un côté il y a les victimes des crimes, et de l'autre… ;17 ( have at one's mercy) ( also have got) I've got you/him now! maintenant je te/le tiens! ; I'll have you! je vais te montrer! ;18 ○ ( have sex with) se faire ◑ [person].1 ( must) I have to leave now je dois partir maintenant, il faut que je parte maintenant ;2 ( need to) you don't have to ou you haven't got to leave so early tu n'as pas besoin de or tu n'es pas obligé de partir si tôt ; why did this have to happen? pourquoi fallait-il que ça arrive? ; did you have to spend so much money? tu avais vraiment besoin de dépenser autant d'argent?, est-ce qu'il fallait vraiment que tu dépenses autant d'argent? ; something had to be done il fallait faire quelque chose ;3 ( for emphasis) this has to be the most difficult decision I've ever made c'est sans doute la décision la plus difficile que j'aie jamais eu à prendre.C aux1 gen avoir ; ( with movement and reflexive verbs) être ; she has lost her bag elle a perdu son sac ; she has already left/arrived elle est déjà partie/arrivée ; she has hurt herself elle s'est blessée ; she has washed her hands elle s'est lavé les mains ; have you seen her? l'as-tu vue?, est-ce que tu l'as vue? ; we haven't lost them nous ne les avons pas perdus ;2 ( in tag questions etc) you've seen the film, haven't you? tu as vu le film, n'est-ce pas? ; you haven't seen the film, have you? tu n'as pas vu le film? ; you haven't seen my bag, have you? tu n'as pas vu mon sac, par hasard? ; ‘he's already left’-‘has he indeed!’ ‘il est déjà parti’-‘vraiment!’ ; ‘you've never met him’-‘yes I have!’ ‘tu ne l'as jamais rencontré’-‘mais si!’1 ( in time clauses) having finished his breakfast, he went out après avoir fini son petit déjeuner, il est sorti ; having said he'd be there early, he arrived late après avoir dit or alors qu'il avait dit qu'il viendrait tôt, il est arrivé en retard ;2 (because, since) having already won twice, he's a great favourite comme il a déjà gagné deux fois, c'est un grand favori ; having lost money before, he was reluctant to invest in a new project ayant déjà perdu de l'argent or comme il avait déjà perdu de l'argent, il hésitait à investir dans un nouveau projet.to have done with sth en finir avec qch ; this car/TV has had it ○ cette voiture/télé est foutue ○ ; when your father finds out, you've had it ○ ! ( in trouble) quand ton père saura, ça va être ta fête ○ ! ; I can't do any more, I've had it ○ ! ( tired) je n'en peux plus, je suis crevé ○ ! ; I've had it (up to here) ○ j'en ai marre ○ ; I've had it (up to here) with him/my job ○ j'en ai marre de ce type/mon travail ○ ; to have it in for sb ○ avoir qn dans le collimateur ○ ; she has/doesn't have it in her to do elle est capable/incapable de faire ; he will have it that il soutient que ; he won't have it that il n'admet pas que ; I've got it! je sais! ; let's be having you! hum à nous deux! ; and the ayes/noes have it les oui/non l'emportent, les voix pour/contre l'emportent ; to have it off ou away with sb ◑ GB s'envoyer en l'air avec qn ◑ ; the haves and the have-nots les riches et les pauvres ; …and what have you …etc ; there is no milk/there are no houses to be had on ne trouve pas de lait/de maisons ; are there any more to be had? est- ce qu'on en trouve encore? ; these are the best spectacles to be had ce sont les meilleures lunettes qu'on puisse trouver.■ have back:▶ have [sth] back, have back [sth] ( have returned) you can have it back tomorrow je te le rendrai demain ; when can I have my car/my money back? quand est-ce que tu me rends ma voiture/mon argent?■ have down:▶ have [sb] down inviter [person] ; to have sb down for the weekend inviter qn à passer le weekend à la maison.■ have in:▶ have [sb] in ( also have got) faire venir [doctor, priest] ; faire entrer [employee, neighbour] ; we've got decorators in at the moment en ce moment nous avons des décorateurs à la maison.■ have on:▶ have [sth] on, have on [sth] ( also have got) ( be wearing) porter [coat, skirt etc] ; to have nothing on ne rien avoir sur soi ;▶ have [sth] on ( be busy doing) avoir [qch] de prévu ; have you got anything on this evening? avez-vous quelque chose de prévu ce soir? ; I've got a lot on next week j'ai beaucoup de choses prévues la semaine prochaine ;▶ have sth on sb ( have evidence about) avoir des preuves contre qn ; the police have got nothing on me la police n'a aucune preuve contre moi.■ have out:▶ have [sth] out se faire enlever or arracher [tooth] ; to have one's appendix out se faire opérer de l'appendicite ; to have it out with sb s'expliquer avec qn.■ have over, have round:▶ have [sb] over inviter [person] ; to have sb over for the evening inviter qn à passer la soirée chez soi.■ have up ○:▶ to be had up être jugé (for pour). -
20 British regions and counties
The names of British regions and counties usually have the definite article in French, except when used with the preposition en.In, to and from somewhereMost counties and regions are masculine ; with these, in and to are translated by dans le, and from by du:to live in Sussex= vivre dans le Sussexto go to Sussex= aller dans le Sussexto come from Sussex= venir du SussexNote however:Cornwall= la Cornouaillesto live in Cornwall= vivre en Cornouaillesto go to Cornwall= aller en Cornouaillesto come from Cornwall= venir de la CornouaillesUses with nounsThere are rarely French equivalents for English forms like Cornishmen, and it is always safe to use de with the definite article:Cornishmen= les habitants mpl de la CornouaillesLancastrians= les habitants du LancashireIn other cases, du is often possible:a Somerset accent= un accent du Somersetthe Yorkshire countryside= les paysages du Yorkshirebut it is usually safe to use du comté de:the towns of Fife= les villes du comté de Fifethe rivers of Merioneth= les rivières du comté de Merionethor de la région de:Grampian cattle= le bétail de la région des GrampiansBig English-French dictionary > British regions and counties
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